Happenings of the Chabad Lubavitch אנ"ש community of Rockland County, New York

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Pesach Perspective (2)

By Rabbi
Yisroel Shusterman

This
week’s Parsha Perspective is dedicated by Mr. Binyomin Philipson in memory of
his late mother Mrs. Ellen (Elka bas Zisel) Philipson OBM

Is it possible to be
spiritual and selfish at the same time? Let us have a look at the words of the
Torah that shed important light on this question.

The Torah reading
for the seventh day of Pesach (Shmos (Exodus) 13:17-15:26) tells
of the “Splitting of the Yam Suf (Sea of Reeds)” which the Jews
experienced a week after their exodus from Egypt.

Vayasa Moshe et
ha-am—“Moses made the people journey from the sea.” (15:22) The great miracle
had happened. The sea had split and the Egyptian army was no more. The word vayasa
- “he made [them] journey” - implies that Moses had to force his people to move
on. But why was this necessary? Why wouldn’t they move on their own?

According to Rashi,
the enemy was so confident of victory against the Israelites that they bedecked
their horses and chariots with gold, silver and precious jewels. These
treasures were now being washed up on the seashore, and the Jews were
collecting the riches. So they were in no mood to move on. But Moses said they
had a date with G‑d at Mount Sinai. As the nation’s leader, he had to compel
them to carry on their journey.

The Zohar gives a
more spiritual explanation. We are taught that the divine revelation at the
splitting of the sea was quite an extraordinary experience. In the words of our
sages, “What a simple maidservant saw at the sea, even the great prophets were
not privileged to see.” According to this mystical view, it was not the
material wealth they were obsessed with, but rather the incredible spiritual
delights they were experiencing.

Either way, it was
up to Moses to move them along to their appointment with destiny. And the
question is this: If it was gold and silver that was delaying their journey to
Sinai, we can well understand the need for Moses to hurry them on. But if it
was the spiritual experience of inspired revelation, why move on? Why not stay
there as long as possible? Surely, the more G‑dly revelation the better!

The answer is that G‑d
was calling. Sinai was beckoning. The entire purpose of the Exodus and all the
miracles in Egypt and at the sea was nothing more than to receive the Torah at
Sinai. That was the revelation that would give the Jewish people its unique way
of life and its very raison d’être. Sinai represents our mission, our
mandate. Sinai made us G‑d’s messengers on earth. However we may understand the
concept of a chosen people, it was the Sinaitic experience that made us that.
Any detours or distractions from the journey to Sinai are therefore out of the
question - no matter how lofty or spiritual they might be.

It comes as no great
shock to learn that gold and silver are not as important as Sinai. But that
spirituality, too, must take second place to Sinai - this is indeed big news.
And what exactly is Sinai? Torah. And what is Torah? The will of G‑d. In other
words, the bottom line is: what does G‑d want? How does He want us to act, to
live our lives? So, the big news story here is that even the most amazing
spiritual experience, the most extraordinary revelation, is not as important as
doing what G‑d wants us to do.

It is a very
important message that emerges from this one word, vayasa. It’s not what
we want that counts, but what G‑d wants. If we want money and diamonds, and He
wants to give us His Torah, then we leave the loot and we go to Sinai. And even
if it is a spiritual experience we seek, and G‑d says “Go to Sinai,” we still
go to Sinai and we leave the spiritual inspiration for another time.

The following is a
true story. It once happened back in the old country that late one night, a
wagon driver ran into a yeshivah and cried out to the students to
come out and help him. It was urgent, he said. His wagon had overturned, and
his horse was stuck in a ditch and was in danger of dying. He needed help to
get the wagon upright. It was late at night, and there was no one else he could
turn to, so he appealed to the yeshivah students to come to his
assistance.

At this point the
students’ Talmudic training kicked in, and a long halachic debate ensued. Was
it right to leave their Torah study for the sake of a horse? After all, is not
Torah study equal to all the other mitzvot combined? On the other hand, the
horse provided this Jew’s livelihood. Which takes precedence? The debate raged
on and on - and when they finally did decide to go out and help the poor man,
it was too late. The horse had died.

Sometimes we can get
so caught up in our own spirituality that we become quite selfish. Spiritually
selfish, of course, but selfish nonetheless. At the end of the day, it’s not
whether we are into materialism or monotheism, money or metaphysics. The
ultimate question - and, in fact, the only question - is: what does G‑d want of
me at this moment in time? Where should I be and what should I be doing right
now?

So, if you find
yourself in a quandary or on the horns of a difficult dilemma, ask yourself
this very question: What would G‑d want? Yes, sometimes it might be
helping a horse out of a ditch. But if that is the call of the hour, then so be
it. It might not be very spiritual, but it is the right thing to do.